Quote from: Dangerous Days on Mar 09, 2017, 11:38:05 AM
@Protozoid,
I agree with you, Prometheus was limited by its association with Alien and it has become a millstone critically around its neck ever since. And that's why the minute Fox and RS made up their minds to take their planned Alien prequel in a new creative direction, they should of bitten the bullet and made Prometheus an original Sci-fi movie, independent of the Alien franchise.
But I think you have to try and understand, the same annoyance you now have towards Covenant, is how many Alien fans felt towards Prometheus. They were sold the idea of an Alien prequel and ended up with a pseudo-prequel instead; full of retcon.
I don't really see this as equivalent. Like you said, the Alien series ran out of track because the story didn't have any direction and never added up to more than the sum of its parts. But it had its chance: three sequels and two spinoffs. You Alien fans got 3-5 sequels before they hit the reset button. Prometheus fans got one movie. Just one. So while you might say that Alien lived a long time and died a natural death, Prometheus's fate is less natural. It was a hit but still didn't get a proper sequel. Alien fans have less to complain about given that so many of them embrace Aliens as perhaps the greatest sequel of all time.
QuoteAs for Covenant, I see it as a necessary bridge for them to try and correct the continuity issues Prometheus created between itself and Alien. At the end of the day, Prometheus, like it or not, was supposed to be an Alien prequel and has to reconnect narratively back to the original franchise. Fox and RS probably felt that Prometheus 2 was taking things further off reservation, as far as continuity was concerned; digging themselves a much bigger creative hole to write themselves out of; hence the new Alien bible.
I couldn't care less about continuity. It was a head-scratcher on opening day, but ultimately I consider all the connections to Alien to be a liability, like you said. They were better off without them, and I wish they had stuck with the original plan to completely strip the Alien elements from the sequels. The series got the reboot it needed. Rebooting back to Alien isn't really a reboot so much as backpeddling, imo.
QuoteBy the way, what mystery is there really in regards to the black goo? - Its a bio-weapon that creates Xeno-like creatures, just like the mural in the ampule room; mystery solved.
That's only half of it. Lindelof pointed out that the prologue is there to show us that creation occurs after the destruction, it's just microscopic. It destroys
and creates.
QuoteFinally, associating a films commercial success with its quality is a silly argument to make. By that logic, Transformers is superior to Prometheus.
Look, I'm not stupid. I know that Avatar isn't the best movie ever made. My point bringing up the grosses was to show that Prometheus was a bigger hit than the last 2-4 movies that had Aliens in them, without the signature aliens or the word "alien" in the title. $400 million and tens of millions of discs means that a lot of people saw the movie, more so than the last several Alien installments. Which means that more than just Alien fans went to see it, and a lot of people must have liked it, because the user scores across the net are also higher than the last Alien films. Fox keeps citing a vocal minority of Alien fans as their target audience, not taking into account that the Alien series had been in decline for twenty years when Prometheus came out. There are a lot of people out there who like Prometheus who are being marginalized if not actively discouraged on this site. Hicks keeps telling me to leave my Covenant comments in the Prometheus board. During the Prometheus days, did he tell the haters to stay on the Alien board? Of course not. It's pretty obvious that Prometheus is the red-headed stepchild around here. Again, I don't think I should have to constantly defend myself for calling Prometheus a good movie and a success on the board for its sequel. Telling me to find another board to post these comments is not appropriate. It's dismissive.
QuoteAnyway, as Corporal Hicks has requested a better debate for the Prometheus boards.
...except that we're talking about Covenant. Telling Prometheus fans to stay on the Prometheus boards is just reinforcing my feeling that Alien fans are pushing the upset Prometheus fans away. They don't want to have to think about how upset they must be right now and are trying a little too hard to de-legitimize dissent. To a Prometheus fan, Covenant is upsetting. Unless you guys want to cut Prometheus fans out of the conversation, it's time to acknowledge that. Stop trying to tell us that Prometheus deserves to be retconned. Stop telling us that box office and our opinions and the movie's positive reviews don't matter.
Prometheus fans matter. They should feel welcome here. They shouldn't have to write a dozen defensive posts for every positive remark they make about Prometheus. If you want to focus on the fact that the glass is half-empty, fine. But don't tell me it's entirely empty. That half-full part of the glass has millions of fans, those fans have feelings, and some of them are reading
right now. So keep telling me that we are marginal, that the box office meant nothing, that the reviews meant nothing, that the most famous film critic of his era, Roger Ebert, meant nothing. I expected an Alien forum to favor movies called Alien, but not to the degree that they reject the best-reviewed, highest-grossing entry in the franchise in thirty years, and its fans along with it.
Is this how it's going to be? From now on, Covenant forum is Alien fan territory and Prometheus fans should be advised that every comment they leave will result in being forced to write a dozen defenses?